Battlers queue for help to educate children

HUNDREDS of battling Sunshine Coast families are queueing for help to give their children a brighter future as education expenses eat away at the bank balance.

Learning for Life, a community education support program run by The Smith Family, is represented by just two education support workers on the Coast who are handling cases for 470 students from low-income families.

Sunshine Coast and Hinterland Learning for Life team leader Wendy Traves said she also had nearly 140 students waiting to be helped.

Her only co-worker, Andrea Isaacs, has 96 students waiting to be given the chance for a better education.

Ms Traves said it was sad, but reality, that such a large number of families on the Coast were in need of financial help to cover the growing cost of uniforms, books and school excursions.

She said she and Ms Isaacs also provided educational training for students, but were struggling to cope.

A rare and generous donation of more than $10,000 from the Buderim View Club could not have come at a better time. Ms Traves said the money would cover a years education costs for 40 students, but such donations were also needed to employ more support workers to share the workload.

"If we had another support worker, we could help families faster, Ms Traves said.

Ms Isaacs said the waiting list for the program had been growing steadily in recent years.

"The program acts as a preventative measure to ensure children in low income families dont end up in the same situation as their parents, Ms Isaacs said.

Buderim View Club Marion Jacobson said the club chose to donate the money, raised at a recent golf day, to the Learning for Life program because of its situation and to help break the local poverty cycle.